Floods are outliers amongst pure disasters.
Earthquakes instantly roll up from beneath us to wreak havoc. Volcanoes give a couple of hints, then explode. Tornadoes drop out of the sky with little warning. Though hurricanes could be seen coming, nobody is aware of for sure the place they will make landfall.
Floods, although, are way more predictable. Days forward, meteorologists can see an atmospheric river coming in from the ocean. Everybody is aware of rivers will rise. Folks can plan forward and flee if wanted. And, in contrast to an earthquake or hurricane, solely sure folks will likely be within the path of catastrophe – the individuals who reside close to these rivers.
As the floods have inundated farms and rural communities throughout Western Washington over the last several days, upending lives and bringing financial break to many people, folks in Seattle, Bellevue and different cities have suffered little greater than a wet commute or a watery basement. The various oblivious metropolis dwellers who neither learn a newspaper nor watch TV information might not even know in regards to the human catastrophe unfolding within the little cities simply miles away.
If tv pictures are consultant, a number of the folks dwelling close to the swollen rivers had been already dwelling on the sting, underemployed and disregarded of the advantages of the area’s wealth-producing tech sector – poor individuals who might now be totally destitute as a result of their previous vehicles and modest dwellings have been inundated or washed away.
On this vacation season, these of us who’ve had no bother using out the extreme rainfall in our cozy city properties mustn’t simply depend ourselves fortunate, however perhaps do what we are able to to assist to our rural neighbors down by the rivers. On the very least, let’s not begrudge them the hundreds of thousands of tax {dollars} that will likely be spent to assist them restore their lives.
In spite of everything, when the grinding tectonic plates offshore lastly slip and ship the Massive One our method, we metropolis people will be the ones determined for assist.
See extra of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View different syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
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